Moraes gains more power to investigate Bolsonaro in the STF after 01/08

The vandalism at the headquarters of the Three Powers in Brasília, on the 8th, gave rise to the pretension of Minister Alexandre de Moraes to keep in his hands, in the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the investigations that target the ex-president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and his closest group of militants and allies. This includes, among others, surveys of fake news and the digital militias – which are questioned by jurists and politicians for not obeying all the regular procedures of Justice.

Until last year, some STF ministers, uncomfortable with the damage that Moraes’ measures caused to the image of the Court, considered convincing him to close the investigations. For these ministers, the inquiries further fueled popular dissatisfaction against the Supreme Court. But this movement weakened with the acts of January 8. And Moraes gained internal strength to keep the investigations going.

To the investigations that were already being processed by the STF before 2023, there will now be at least two more investigations, recently opened by the minister, to elucidate the participation of authorities, by omission or instigation, in the acts that destroyed the buildings of Congress, Palácio do Planalto and STF.

At the request of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), a specific inquiry was opened to determine whether there was connivance, due to the lack of police personnel at the Esplanada dos Ministérios, on the part of the governor removed from the Federal District Ibaneis Rocha (MDB) and his former Security Secretary Anderson Torres, who was also Minister of Justice in the Bolsonaro government.

Another specific inquiry against the former president was opened based on a video that Bolsonaro published days after January 8, attributing the electoral victory of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to the actions of the STF and the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). The premise of the investigation is that this discourse, delegitimizing the electoral process, would stimulate new protests against the results of the polls.

Moraes gained strength because STF ministers understood that he was right

Among Court ministers, some factors justify the extension of investigations in the STF, especially those that could reach Bolsonaro. Strictly speaking, as it no longer has a privileged jurisdiction, the former president and a good part of those investigated in these cases could respond in the first judicial instance. But since 2019, this rule has been circumvented by Moraes based on a STF regimental rule that allows the Court to open its own inquiries to investigate crimes that have occurred on the court’s premises. This device received, from the ministers themselves, a broad interpretation, to also encompass offenses and threats directed at members of the Supreme, especially in the virtual environment, which could constrain their performance.

The invasion of the headquarters of the STF on January 8 gave Moraes more concrete grounds for maintaining the investigations and opening new ones based on the same regimental rule. This is because the depredation of property, the threat of direct violence to STF ministers and the attempt to affect its regular functioning configure crimes literally practiced inside the court.

Another understanding that motivates STF ministers to endorse the maintenance of inquiries with Moraes is the confirmation that the threats in the virtual environment represented a real danger to their security. Moraes’ colleagues at the Court believe that he was right to keep the investigations under his control, albeit outside the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has always had a timid role in discovering new threats. The most important measures have always been authorized by Moraes at the request of a restricted group of Federal Police (PF) delegates with whom he has a direct relationship.

Finally, and most importantly, the steps taken by Moraes to investigate the perpetrators of the acts of vandalism, the possible principals, financiers and organizers, could provide new information to the investigations. This data will still have to be crossed and analyzed to feed new criminal processes. It’s a job that will last a long time.

On Wednesday (18), for example, Moraes informed in a note that depositions had already been taken from 1,459 people arrested, in custody hearings, carried out by judges summoned by the minister. Based on these hearings, he decided to keep 740 detainees indefinitely. Another 335 people were released until Thursday (19). But they will be monitored, whether with an ankle bracelet or periodic appearance before the Court. They were also banned from leaving the country, keeping in touch with other investigated persons and using social networks.

In addition to collecting the information provided by these people, Moraes and his assistants will also use as material for analysis images collected in the palaces, records of stays in hotels in Brasília, a list of passengers who traveled to the capital for the act, in addition to data obtained from apprehensions. and possible breaches of secrecy – several diligences run in secrecy of Justice.

“All cases will be analyzed by the STF, which is responsible for deciding who remains in prison and who eventually may respond in freedom”, says the minister’s note. The concentration of the investigation in the Court, thus ruling out the possibility of distributing it to lower courts, indicates Moraes’ intention to continue in charge of the cases.

Prosecutor sees risk in maintaining inquiries against Bolsonaro in the STF

Behind the scenes of the Public Ministry, the centralization of investigations in the STF is seen as reckless, given the size taken by the case. “Alexandre de Moraes’ investigation is not a solution. We asked to send it to the first degree, which understands the subject and knows better how to investigate. Until today, in the STF, exactly who sends and finances it has not been discovered. And now the thing has exploded”, says under condition of confidentiality of the source, a prosecutor who follows the case.

The depredation at the headquarters of the three powers, however, put more pressure on the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, much criticized within the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) and also by some ministers of the STF for not having been more committed to the investigations. about the “digital militia”. Since the acts of vandalism, he has reacted to criticism by setting up a “Strategic Group to Combat Anti-Democratic Acts” and delegating to a sub-attorney, Carlos Frederico Santos, the role of prosecuting the offenders.

On Monday (16), Aras denounced to the STF 39 people who participated in the riot in the Senate, asking for BRL 40 million from the accused to repair the damage. On Wednesday (18), five more were denounced for vandalizing the headquarters of the Supreme Court, including the man caught stealing a copy of the original volume of the Constitution. There are more complaints in preparation to be filed.

Aras’ accusations follow the line adopted by Moraes, of considering the invasion an attack against democracy. “The ultimate objective of the attack on the headquarters of the Three Powers was the installation of an alternative government regime, the result of the abolition of the democratic rule of law. […] The authors intended to continuously prevent the exercise of Constitutional Powers, which would imply the repeated practice of crimes until the exceptional regime intended by the anti-democratic mass could be consolidated”, says the PGR.

So far, the most incisive initiative of the Attorney General’s Office has been against Bolsonaro himself, in the presentation of a new request for an inquiry to investigate the ex-president’s alleged instigation and intellectual authorship in the “anti-democratic acts”. The representation suggests that, by posting a video on January 10 questioning the regularity of the 2022 presidential elections, Bolsonaro would have made public incitement to commit a crime. In the video, a Mato Grosso do Sul prosecutor said that “Lula was not elected by the Brazilian people, he was chosen by the electoral service, by the ministers of the STF and by the ministers of the Superior Electoral Court”.

Moraes accepted the request and launched a new inquiry, which is added to four others that the minister maintains against Bolsonaro in court. He pointed out close relationship between them. “The request forwarded by the Attorney General’s Office, in an initial analysis, points out that both the conduct reported and its subsequent dissemination through social networks are similar to the modus operandi previously detailed and investigated in the records of the Inqs. 4,781/DF [fake news] and 4,874/DF [milícias digitais]which reveals the existence of a true criminal organization, with a strong digital presence and with production, publication, financing and political nuclei, with the clear purpose of attacking the Institutions, Democracy and the Rule of Law”, stated the Minister of the Supreme Court.

Later, in his dispatch, Moraes clarified his interpretation that there is a relationship between the investigations: “The same modus operandi of disclosure used by the criminal organization investigated in both aforementioned investigations, with intense reactions through virtual networks, preaching hate speeches and contrary to the Institutions, the Rule of Law and Democracy, circumstances that, in theory, may have contributed, in a very relevant way, to the occurrence of criminal and terrorist acts such as those that occurred on 1/8/2023 , in Brasília/DF”.

It is possible that material already collected in part of the older investigations will be incorporated into the new investigation because they have similar objects. The need for sharing is yet another reason that justifies maintaining the surveys of fake news and the digital militias under the supervision of Moraes. The PGR has already asked for Bolsonaro to be interrogated, but the STF minister said he will only decide after the former president returns from the United States, where he traveled the day before the end of his term.